


Two Queens

by AurionG



Category: Christmas Tales & Traditions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-13 21:17:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16899975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AurionG/pseuds/AurionG
Summary: A famous life as witnessed through the eyes of her cat.





	Two Queens

**Author's Note:**

> This is kinda sorta a Christmas story... and a cat story...

Two Queens

 

It was cold in Bethlehem the night it happened, which was not extraordinary in and of itself, but to the man and woman in a stable in that small town, extraordinary was about to become their way of life.

It had started simply enough. The Romans had declared a census to be made of the Israelites, and to that end ordered all adult men to go to the town of their birth and to declare their family's number and be so counted. There evidently was never a time when being 'head of household' was not a pain in the ass... which goes a long way to explaining the creatures’ contrary natures to this very day.

Joseph lived and plied his carpenter's trade in Galilee, but had been born in Bethlehem, so he prepared himself to travel the miles demanded of him.

Much to his consternation, his wife, Mary, did likewise. He protested her actions, for she was with child and very close to her time. Which is why, she claimed, she would not be left behind. Bandits were few, but she would worry after him day after day. But with her by his side, they would both be safe. Joseph, she knew, could not deny that.

Joseph knew that as well, and he did not try. He simply kissed his young wife, placed their finest shabby riding pad on their ass, (who showed his contrary nature by being contrary to contrariness) and he led wife and steed down the long road to Bethlehem.

**********

Joseph had hoped, the morning they arrived there to see his business done, rest and refresh his wife with a midday meal and have the town hours behind them before dark. It was not meant to be. The line was long and the people slow... on both sides of the tables arrayed about. It was full dark before he was able to put his task behind him. They would have to stay the night.

"No room!"  
"No room!"  
"No room!"  
The words were a litany like a slow echo at every inn where Joseph knocked.

"Joseph...what shall we do?" Mary was quite tired, and sounded very young in her worry, now.

"Mary," he said gently. "It was you reminded me, a hand greater than any man's protects and guides us. Perhaps this is the town and the time we are wanted here. We just have to find the place in Bethlehem."

Mary tried to lose her worry with levity. "Surely you don't expect an invitation to the Roman mayor's manor?"

_"Indeed not!"_ Her husband blustered theatrically. "If I was going to be mistaken for the mayor's cousin, it would certainly have happened at the census house!"

Joseph felt warmed and rewarded by her delighted laugh.

"But maybe," he continued, "The next inn will be host to a midwife who might take pity on you, and have you in with her."

That was not, however the way it went at that next inn… or the next… or the next…

"No room!"

"No room!"

"No room... but I won't have it said I turned any away if I could help it." That stopped Joseph in his tracks, and he turned back to the innkeeper.

"My inn is full, I've some even on the floors, but they all wanted feeding and that has left space in the stable in back. If you don't mind the beasts, there's room, and the hay is fresh, and you'll be out of the worst of the cold. I wish I could do more for you, but even my blanket is someone else's this night."

"Blessings on you and yours, sir, this night and on all nights to follow!" Joseph told the man earnestly.

"Innkeeper!"

The voice from the common room behind him made the innkeeper wince. He leaned closer to Joseph to whisper, "And at least the asses about you will have hooves and tails instead of hands and-"

"INNKEEPER!"

"Coming... coming." The innkeeper rolled his eyes and closed the door more gently than any of the others had.

Joseph almost beamed with their changing fortune. "You heard for yourself, Mary. We have a place. But we'll try a few more inns before we actually take it, just in case there's better."

"No, my dear husband. You were right. Bethlehem is the town; this stable is the place... _now_... it is time." Mary said gravely as she gripped Joseph's hand.

Joseph swallowed and paled at her meaning, then resolutely took the donkey's lead and strode to the stable behind the inn.

**********

From her perch in the rafters above the dirt floor of the stable, the old tabby cat glared indignantly at the human invaders of her home and workplace. It was bad enough they trooped in and out of the inn the way they did. And their animals! As soon as she trained one group of creatures to her supreme position, they were gone and another group of domesticated cretins were brought to her for training.

But this! This was inexcusable!! What was she supposed to do with humans?! It was clear enough the young queen was near kittening, which made the old tom's presence even more curious. A tom was good for one thing, and not much of that, truth be told. In all her fifteen years she had yet to find one tom she cared to remember... even among her own offspring, mores' the pity. So why was this tom with gray in his mane treating this queen as if she was the most important being on Earth?

Humans in her domain...as if the nights weren't bad enough on her being lit up by that stupid new light in the sky. The mice and rats could watch for her with that thing glaring down... and right above her stable, drat the luck! Maybe these two knew something about that. They had a glimmer to them much like the winged ones from above. Come to think of it, they glowed much like the light they were gathering around up there. Was this all connected?

The old cat wasn't at all certain she wanted these two staying around long enough for her to find out. But their staying long enough seemed inevitable, even if the answers remained as elusive as tonight's dinner mouse had turned out to be.

The young queen gasped, startling only her grayling tom.

_'It's about time for the midwife to show, isn't it?'_ thought the old cat.

The grayling tom snatched up his staff and rushed for the door. The glimmer about his form rose and billowed more brightly about his head and he slowed to a stop.

The cat felt her fur begin to stand on end through no action of hers. Almost before she might wish to be elsewhere, she was distracted by the tableau directly below her. Where the young human female had been there was now a brightly glowing orb nearly the size of a cow... which was very easy to determine by the cow still standing in her stall... and still placidly chewing her cud in complete unconcern... as were all the other animals.

Was she the only one seeing this, then? She suddenly realized she was casting a shadow and whipped her head around to the window. It was daylight outside, but... just for the stable! She looked back down. The orb was shrinking, now. She could see the young queen's head and legs, and moments later the light had shrunk into her cradling arms. And then she was holding a baby.

A beautiful - human - boy.

She wondered briefly at the possibility of three such mutually exclusive words coming together before her eyes, but only briefly.

The music distracted her. Coming from well above ground, the winged ones were singing in a singular voice which made the surf in a tempest sound mute in comparison. And yet nothing shook, her ears didn't cringe... but her heart filled. Then they were gone, streaking to the horizon in a dozen different directions.

The old cat murrled her annoyance. They hadn't even bothered to take their glowy thing with them.

"Joseph, come look at your son."

The old tom shook free of his stasis, though the glow around his head remained quite distinct. Now the old cat could easily distinguish the ones around the young queen, and the human kitten as well... the kitten most of all.

Presently the new young mother carefully wrapped her newborn in swaddle and for lack of better accommodations, laid him in a manger. Then she and her tom bowed their heads and prayed to their child.

_'Now I know why these two are out here with the beasts... they're crazy. No. That's not right. The other humans can't see all this, at least any of them around here. The singing didn't raise a single shout. No one's even come out to panic at the light. If they're not seeing that, It's a given they're not seeing the glow these two -three- have.'_

A movement below broke her reverie. The kittling tom was moving, squirming. Then he shivered.

The tabby cat sighed. Some mothers don't know, others know and don't care. Bless the one and blast the other. She sighed again and stretched and trotted down rafter, beam, and hay bale, to hop finally onto the corner of the manger unnoticed. She sniffed delicately at the baby's head, and was reminded of a full bloom spring morning.

Mary looked up as her son giggled.

"Mary!" Joseph grated in worry.

She patted his hand gently. "Trust a mother's instincts, my husband. Just watch."

The tom kitten shivered and the old cat wasted not a moment. She stepped gingerly into the manger, stepping high through the hay. She stepped lightly across His legs and in one fluid motion that mere words render into a pale muddle, she lowered herself around the small infant from shoulder to shoulder to bask in the glow about his head. The babe leaned His cheek against her purring head and went blissfully to sleep. The old cat joined him soon after.

**********

The old queen's head lifted. Time had passed, she knew. The human couple was asleep. Then what- Ah... some of the singers above were returning. She scampered (something she hadn't done in years) back up to the loft window and into the light from above. There were indeed a number of shining ones wafting her way. She also saw a handful of men following them, moving at a speed far greater than their walking gait (or a galloping horse, for that matter) would account for. And they showed no sign of noticing. Evidently, for tonight, at least, there was no uncommon occurrence, and no reason to fear or worry.

The airborne singers stationed themselves with the light from above, whether in, on, or around, the old cat couldn't tell in the glare. She went back inside to assess the new arrivals.

Shepherds they were, to judge by the sheepskins they wore against the cold. On the whole they were far too doggish a lot to suit her, but as long as they kept the mutton from running off, she'd accept them.

She began to feel another change in the music outside and went again to investigate. Yes, another group was approaching, this time with a trio of well appointed camels, and their riders.

Elders, kings, or scholars, the cat mused. She had little use for any of them. Like as not they'd have the innkeeper drive off the 'riff raff' before strutting in like their droppings smelled of sandalwood and rose water rather than just like any peddler's or shepherd's.

At least one of them would be limping away with a bloody ankle if they tried that in her stable!

Her eyes widened when they halted at the door seeking permission before entering, and they waited politely behind the shepherds until they made room for the new arrivals. Though their gifts were rich, their presentation was humble, and their adoration of the newborn sincere.

The old queen's estimation of wise men rose... a little.

She drowsed as the people beneath her did more of their people things which she also felt to be beneath her.

Cold air across her fur awakened her. Shepherds and scholars alike had left, letting in the cold their warm bodies had kept farther at bay. Something else humans were good for, in large enough numbers, she admitted... as long as they stayed quiet. Then she noticed that, too...the quiet. She checked out the roof. Both singing not-birds, and glowy thing - gone.

Maybe things might start returning to normal after all, she thought as she resumed her perch above the stable inhabitants.

A whisper of sound caught her ear. Something in the straw...under the manger. No... it was _in_ the manger!

The old cat lunged to her paws and bellowed out a very angry guttural meow.

Mary and Joseph both jumped at the sound. Joseph snatched up his staff with the thought to chase the suddenly antagonistic feline from the site. Mary stayed him with a gentle hand on his arm.

"What is it?" She asked the cat seriously. "Surely you haven't taken a dislike to my son. You shared warmth and dreams with Him, after all."

She took her swaddled babe protectively into her arms and stepped back beside her husband. The old queen's attention didn't waver.

"Joseph, it's not the baby. It's the manger!"

"Best you stay away from both, then!" He answered tightly.

With another angry growl, the tabby cat launched from her rafter perch and landed in the manger. Flying straw and loud hissing was all that could be perceived for long moments. The other beasts became restive at this flurry of feline unpleasantness.

Despite his wife's assurance, Joseph readied himself to dispatch the old cat, if it proved necessary.

Something smacked hard against the edge of the manger and cart wheeled out to land on the ground with a loud thump. It was a snake... a local viper. And it was dead. Joseph deftly hit it just behind the head, just to be sure.

_'Thank you, Graymane, but it's not any more dead, now. Still, if **you** feel better about it.'_

"Kitty?" Mary asked after the calm meow from within the manger hay. "Are you all right?"

_'Of course I am,'_ came another meow. The old cat jumped easily to the edge of the manger and began placidly grooming the hay dust from her fur. _'See?'_

The cat was actually surprised when the young queen snatched her up in her free arm to look her over quickly and carefully.

"You could have been killed!" Mary exclaimed, and kissed the tabby on the forehead.

"Mrrowwrrr," answered the stable cat. _'Not me, kitten. But what of **your** kitten?'_ She stretched her nose toward the baby in an attempt to side track the young queen's attentions.

The babe, for His part, had gotten loose from some of His swaddle and proceeded to bop the cat on the head gleefully.

"Rrrarr," she said. _'Never mind, He's fine.'_

Mary moved cat and child farther apart and bent to place the cat on the ground... almost on top of the snake. She gasped slightly and changed her mind, placing the cat on a hay bale, instead.

"Joseph, would you please...?" She waved vaguely toward the dead serpent.

"Gladly," he said and scooped the reptile up with the butt of his staff and move briskly into the night.

Mary reswaddled her son, but not without frequent glances into the dim corners of the stable, which were distressingly many. Joseph was back before she was finished. When she was done she looked up at her husband.

“Joseph, my husband, I know we have most worthy and able protectors above and beside us, but I'm no longer comfortable in Bethlehem. I won't get any more rest here."

"Then we'll go, dear one. The innkeeper asked for nothing, and the sky is brightening to the east. The visitors took most of the night with them, but I feel quite ready to head home." He gave a gracious nod to the cat and went on. "You stay close to your feline guardian and I'll gather our things."

Mary gratefully offered no complaint as she was not about to have her newborn son anywhere but her own loving arms. She sat on a tight roll of hay and moments later lifted her feet onto a slightly smaller one beside her. The old female cat hopped from her own perch to sit beside her and murrled quietly. Mary smiled and stroked her back.

If this old predator was calm, she could be, as well.

Soon enough Joseph lifted Mary onto the donkey, only to find the cat already sitting up on the animal's withers.

"Are you going with us then?" Joseph asked her seriously.

“Here, now," Mary scolded gently. "You want your master thinking we're thieves, trying to steal you away from your duties?"

_'I have no master, Young Queen, I am a cat.'_

"You may 'mrowwrrowrumm' all you want, my dear mouser, but you'll have to do it in your stable." Mary's tone was implacable. And with that, she attempted to lift the cat from the donkey.

The cat flicked out her claws in order to keep to her chosen perch. The donkey's ears fluttered in annoyance at the prickles. Joseph saw the makings of a confrontation and placed his hand on the cat's back.

"Let's not start the trek home with bloodshed, if we can help it, Mary. I really do want to offer the innkeeper something for our accommodations. Maybe he knows his cat well enough to entice her into letting us go without a fight."

So this unusual entourage made its way to the front of the inn, to find the owner already busy about the task of catering to his guests. He saw them and his automatic smile froze halfway to completion as he saw the evidence of what transpired in the night asleep in Mary's arms.

Mary took pity on the man and spoke. "Good innkeeper, your cat seems to have taken a liking to me and has thus attached herself to my steed. I wouldn't want to deprive you of the worthy mouser, so if you could remind her of her duties here, it would be appreciated.”

The innkeeper gratefully accepted the distraction to reach for the cat but stopped.

“I'm sorry, good lady, but that is not my cat," he declared. "She is much like mine, but younger, and mine has different markings about the face. I've no doubt it's a granddaughter, but she's yours now, if she's anything like mine in her claims of property."

"Meowrurrull," said the feline in question. _'You old fool, I've been protecting your stable my entire life. I hope you count your coins better than you inspect cats.'_

"Well," said Mary, "I think she told us...something..."

There was a loud shriek from behind the stable.

"INNKEEPER!!"

"COMING!" With a quick bow to Joseph and Mary, the innkeeper hastily trotted toward the continuing commotion in some evident relief.

Joseph sighed. "Someone has discovered the snake in the middens."

"I feel sorry for the man," Mary murmured.

"We'll put him in our prayers." Joseph answered.

**********

The old cat had to admit, life inside a house had its plus side... especially the hearth. There was almost always a fire in it, and there was always always a place in front of it for an enterprising cat, or a tall cat, or a long one... And the _food_... from the table... just like what they were eating. She was careful, though not to let herself fall into complacency. She still fed herself from the wilds, for the most part, and only offered herself as a fourth for dinner when pickings were slim. A gentle paw and a plaintive meow always worked here.

The humans had taken to her training quite naturally after all.

She was fond of them all, but she had a particularly soft spot for the Young Queen. And because of that, it was no hardship to adopt the young tom as hers, as well.

She'd thought she'd been beyond all the maternal aspects of her life, but evidently not. She felt better than she had in years... human years at that. So she added her eyes to the Young Queen's as watcher of the young tom, Jesus. And once He was beyond the 'grab and thump' phase of His life, she would occasionally serve as amusement for the growing boy.

The first day the young tom went off on his own was most memorable to the old cat for many reasons. First of all young Jesus was not prone to getting Himself lost. Secondly, the old queen was amazed that neither Mary nor Joseph had noticed His departure or knew His present whereabouts. After all, she knew, she always knew where He was.

She told them so.

"What is that cat on about, now?" Joseph groused. "We've got enough going on without her getting into it!"

"Wait, Joseph," Mary calmed her husband with a touch and approached the old feline. "Do you know where He is? Will you take us?"

The cat flicked an ear and trotted out the door with the couple in tow. Her steps were sure and direct, and eventually obvious to the human couple.

"Did He go to the temple?" Mary asked seriously.

"We have taught Him it's a place of reverence and safety." Joseph answered. "He might go there if He was lost, but the boy is twelve and knows these streets better than I. If He's there, and I'm sure He is, it's for reasons of His own."

"...Yes..." Mary's words were even more somber. "You are right."

It was the temple they went to, and it was not a lost youth they found. They found Jesus among the rabbis, speaking on theology... and speaking quite well.

Only the old cat seemed unsurprised and unconcerned. What else would they have expected? He was her adopted kitten, after all.

Adopted... but not... hers. The old cat sighed. Was she really thinking what she thought she was thinking? Wasn't she beyond motherhood? Did she really want another tom in her life, however briefly? What was she thinking?! She was not a young thing anymore! Despite her skills and senses being at their peak, she was not getting younger. That part of her life was over.

**********

Except that it wasn't over... twice over.

  
At least toms hadn't changed much over the years. Here today, gone tomorrow. Mary happily found her two litters worthy homes. A certainty she'd never known before, and one she decided not to push any farther.

**********

Jesus the boy grew into Jesus the man. Joseph, for his part had always known his son would not follow in the woodworking trade and was happy that his son had instead become a fisherman.

A fisherman of souls.

Just which of the fish which crossed the family table were _'souls'_ the cat could never discern. But the dinner fish were plentiful by whatever names they went.

Even those which did not cross the table proved to be extraordinary in the hands of the young tom, Jesus.

It had been a day like many others in His life. He'd gone walking with several of His close friends, talking. The cat had tagged along because she'd felt something in the air, and curiosity being what it is to cats, she just had to be wherever whatever was going to happen.

More people followed... and more... and even more. All of them wanted to hear what Jesus had to say.

His friends were worried at the size of the crowd, more than four thousand, one of them mentioned. They suggested He ask them to depart that they might all find something to eat.

"It is the shepherd's duty to see his flock fed." Jesus told them, and then asked. "What have we?"

A young boy heard the question and offered up his own small lunch, four loaves of bread and seven fishes.

Jesus thanked the boy for his generosity and blessed the bread and fishes, and together with His friends He handed the bread and fish to each and every person who had followed to listen. Not only did everyone eat to satisfaction, but there were leftovers. They returned eleven baskets full of bread and fish. And that was after He saw to it that His feline companion received a whole fish, as well.

It was indeed an interesting day.

Joseph, by this time had grown quite old, and knew his days had dwindled to hours when he had only strength enough to sit up in bed one morning. Jesus, Mary, and the cat all stayed near his bedside to comfort him in his passing.

The old man looked into his son's eyes. Jesus nodded with a slight smile and told his mother "I must go for a moment. I won't be long."

Mary opened her mouth to speak, but Jesus placed His hand on her shoulder and added. "He won't, not until I return, I promise."

The remarkable lady settled back, torn between wishing He wouldn't go, and wishing He could stay away long enough for her to get used to losing the man she'd called husband for too short a time.

"Mary, my wife," Joseph said gently. Do this old man a favor, step into the garden amid your plants and flowers, and under the warm sun for just a few minutes. Then come back and embrace me so that I may remember the scent of all the good things of this earth, warm fresh air, new and living things, and you. Please? I'll be fine, your son said so.”

With tears in her eyes, Mary kissed Joseph and moved to do as he bid her.

The old man looked to the cat at the foot of his bed and he smiled. "I'm quite sure, now, that you know more of things than even you think, old queen, and I am grateful for what I now believe to be certain. You were an old thing when you first attached yourself to us thirty years ago, and you look younger now. You and Mary share the prime of life, the two of you. And I think I now know the reason why. My sweet Mary took on a heavy burden for her life. There was no question of my passing before her. I was a widower with children older than she on the day we first met. But I fear that our son is destined a much harsher departure in the not too distant future.

"Oh, I know she'll be provided for, but she will be alone... except for you, it now seems to me. The human condition needs the warmth of other living things around, the beat of another heart, a small life to care for when living is itself a burden.

"Stay with her, I beg of you, as you have for so long. Be there for her as I no longer may."

The old cat silently rose and glided up to rub against his chest and purred loudly as if to say, _'Don't worry, old tom. I'll stay with her always.'_ Which was exactly what she was saying. Then she flicked an ear to the door and sauntered down to sit at his hip.

Mary returned then and knelt beside her husband and embraced him and while he filled his lungs with memories of the good things he was leaving behind, she couldn't help but do the same to remind herself of all the things he'd be taking away. The scent of a dozen fine and simple woods worked by his hand, the honest sweat that work produced, the soap she made that he used to cleanse that sweat away.

"Thank you, Mary," Joseph murmured into her ear. "I have loved you always, and will take that love with me to whatever awaits."

"Then you have learned what is important of this life," said Jesus quietly from the doorway. He sat gently on His father's bed and continued. "Behind you is sorrow, beside you is love, and before you lie wonders unimagined."

Joseph smiled and lifted a hand to his son. "Embrace me, my son, that I may receive my Father's blessing on the beginning of my final journey."

Jesus gathered Joseph to Him and said. "Blessings on you, my son, my father, now and forever." As the old man's arms loosened around Him, Jesus whispered to him. "This is not the end. It is the beginning."

Mary wept at the passing of her husband. The old cat rubbed against her shoulder with a plaintive mewl and allowed herself to be gathered up against Mary's tear stained cheek. The tabby queen did not even complain once about how tightly she was held that day.

**********

Maybe it was because the house held too many memories of the man who was no longer there to share it with her, or maybe she felt that her son had more important things to do than worry about a mother alone 'back at home'. Why ever she chose to do so, Mary left her home, and joined her son, Jesus in His travels and teachings. Her cat, of course, went along.

As often as not the rooms were tents, or borrowed spaces offered by those who truly listened. And there were people listening everywhere.

Even in the city of Jerusalem.

'I don't like it here, ' the old cat thought to herself. 'And I don't know why that is. And I like that even less.'

The city was no more remarkable than some of the others they'd been through. The mice were no different. Even the other felines were normal enough. But there was... something.

Her dreams here were filled with whispers in the dark that awakened her to silence in the night. Even her dreams were strange here.

She accepted scraps just so she wouldn't be too far from her Mary person. She found herself sleeping more because she felt less rested when she did sleep.

That's why she got left behind... and woke up alone that day.

The young tom, Jesus had stayed out the night before, which was not unusual. But the fact that everyone else had left without disturbing her was. The fact that one breakfast bowl was overturned on the table suggested great haste, as well. All in a moment the empty house felt very oppressive to the unfortunate feline.

She had to get out and find Mary. A great many things were very wrong. Just how wrong became manifest when she realized she could not get out of the house. The doors appeared unlatched but would not move at her urging. The windows defied her as she scrabbled at them. Her claws left no mark on any of the wood, or the ground.

At first she called out for mere attention, trying to attract anyone to the door or window. There seemed to be no one about. As the day wore on she wore out, panting in exhausted anger and frustration. Almost, she slept, but her dreams were full of angry people shouting at Mary's Jesus. The angry words bruised the man, bloodied Him. Then when He spread His arms wide to bless His tormentors He was suddenly thrust into the air by two pieces of wood, and a spear pierced His side.

The cat awoke on the table with an anguished howl that even she didn't hear above the suddenly violent weather above the city.

The front door slammed open, nearly splintering against the wall.

The cat bolted for the opening so quickly that she didn't touch the ground until she was in the middle of the empty street. She was around the corner before the remaining dishes hit the floor far behind her.

The sky above flashed light and dark to an almost continual roll of thunder which nearly matched the frantic cat's heartbeat.

_'They've gone and done it!_ ' she thought. _'The worst thing this world has done! And they don't realize it! They killed love. They killed **Him**. They've killed their own best hope!'_

She was sure the skies were going to fall on the city and crush it into nonexistence for its folly. She only hoped she could get to her Mary first. She wouldn't bear it if they were apart come the end.

The cat had no idea which 'she' she meant. It didn't really matter.

The end didn't happen, but the skies remained angry above the city of Jerusalem.

The old cat found Mary in the hills beyond the city. They were just taking the lifeless body of Jesus from the crossed beams of wood the cat remembered from her dream. She hissed and spat in angry frustration.

It was the other Mary, Magdalene, who found her among the milling spectators of the recent spectacle. Tears streaked her face as she looked down at the shivering cat.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice was shaky and brittle. "I thought you were spared this travesty." Then she looked up at the roiling skies. "But then again I expect all of creation has felt this day.

"Will you let me take you to Mother Mary? I think if we lose one more life this day it will do to us exactly what the Romans and rabbis both hope. It will kill our spirits."

The old cat hunched down and shivered even worse. Mary Magdalene gently took up the feline.

"Poor thing, you've cut up your paws. They look as bloody as-" The young woman paled and shivered herself. "Come," she whispered hoarsely. "Mother Mary will be with Jesus."  
Mary was indeed beside her son's body, holding one of His mangled bloody hands in hers as Joseph of Arimathea and his man Nicodedmus, the only men to remain in the face of Jesus' persecution, hastened to ready a linen shroud to receive Him.

Mary Magdalene knelt beside her. "The men are waiting, Mother Mary. Come away with me over here. It grows late beyond these clouds. Minutes are precious, now."

"Minutes are always precious when they can so easily be finished by a Roman command on a piece of parchment." Mary answered, but she let the younger woman lead her a few feet away.

Mary saw her cat curled up so miserably in Magdalene's arms. "Is no one, then, to be spared this?"

"Not if the Romans have anything to say of it," Magdalene muttered past her tears.

"In the end they will have little to say in this, I think." Mary answered evenly, never taking her eyes from her son as they tied the shroud around Him. "Now my work truly begins..."

Magdalene gasped and paled again. "What did you say?!"

Mother Mary smiled weakly at her dead son. "At the moment he died, I felt his spirit flow through me, and those words were left behind.”

"I heard those same words!" Magdalene whispered shakily. "I thought I imagined it."

"He wanted you -us- to know right here and right now that he is not dead, not truly."

"Should we tell the others?"

"...No... l'm not sure they're ready." Mother Mary's face took on a thoughtful expression as she went on. "They were not willing to face the Romans against this. They may not be ready still. Perhaps my son will come to them differently, for different reasons. Unless one should mention it as I did, keep those words for your own heart's ease.

"My Son and His Father are on the path they have chosen for reasons we would never fathom. Nothing in this has been without His countenance.

"There may be reason to rejoice, but not until we mourn, and deal with the mortal remains of this good man."

Joseph approached and nodded respectfully to the two Marys. "We are as ready as we are going to be on this day. The Roman's final insult to us was in seeing that this murder dragged us so late into the day. It is near sundown, and the Sabbath will be upon us. We will not be able to properly prepare Jesus' body for burial for another three days. We will just have time to carry him to my tomb, where he may await our attention in peace, if you will allow it."

Mother Mary offered up a wan smile to the old man. "Thank you, Joseph. I will accept your kind offer."

As Joseph and Nicodemus took up the burden of Jesus' remains and left the hill, a pair of Centurions sauntered into the road, blocking the way. Before Joseph could make the mistake of offering a challenge or an offence which might get him killed, Mother Mary and Mary Magdalene stepped around him and into the faces of the sneering duo. The old cat suspected what was coming. Mother Mary had seldom actively called upon the full strength of her spirituality, but it never failed to be effective. It surprised the old queen when Magdalene also proved to be blindingly effective.

The cat closed her eyes and simply let the peace flow through her. She almost cried at the relief it offered from the events of this dark day.

The soldiers were feeling a good bit differently about it all. Their belligerence turned sour along with their stomachs. Suddenly there was no sport to be found with these individuals. They stepped back... then away. Then they found other things to do near the two other crosses erected that day.

The other women, who had all braved Roman wrath gathered around the precious burden as the two Marys led the way to Joseph's tomb without any other incident. With a final kiss from his mother, they settled Jesus' still form within the carved stone burial chamber before sundown. Joseph and Nicodemus managed to roll the round stone door across the entrance and lock it in place just as the last rays of the sun left the horizon.

Joseph sighed deeply as he approached the two Marys, then he shrugged. "That, I am sorry to say is all we can do for his body until after the Sabbath."

"Then it is enough," Mother Mary assured him, even though her own eyes filled again with tears. "My son never asked more of anyone than they could actually do. Thank you, Joseph, thank you."

**********

The next two days were filled with visits from several of the women who had taken to the teachings of Mary's Son. They came by at this time of tumult to offer solace to Mother Mary. Almost every time, it was Mary who ended up comforting the visitor.

If the old cat hadn't shared Mary's silent pain, she would have thought it amusing. As it was, she decided to break her own protocol and often allowed herself to be petted by these poor women through these days, offering her own warm comfort along with Mary's.

Joseph had evidently spoken to several of these women as well, because a few showed up at his door shortly before sunup on the third day after Jesus' death.

Joseph intended to waste not a moment in preparing his departed teacher's body for His final rest. He urged Mary to stay behind, though she would have none of that. She did allow, however, that she would let the others do what was necessary.

Joseph smiled just a bit, and then offered his arm to Mary. "Then come, and be our pillar of strength, and be with us." He managed a weak humorless chuckle. "Now I see where your Son received His strength," he said.

"No, dear Joseph, you do not." She answered him quietly. "Not yet." She would not elaborate.

Joseph had planned their arrival to take place just as the sun illuminated the door stone to his crypt so that he and Nicodemus could more easily roll it back from the entrance.

Both foresights proved unnecessary. Joseph could only gape. The heavy stone door he and Nicodemus had so strenuously rolled into place stood away from the tomb like his own hinged front door. That was a feat for a great many men.

He almost rushed to the entrance, but a glimmer of light within made him stop. The others gathered around as the glimmer grew brighter.

The angel who stepped from the gaping crypt was quite tall, and his smile became dazzling as he spoke.

"Why do you seek the living here among the dead? The man you know as Jesus in not within. He has gone to speak briefly with His Father, my Master. He will return to you very soon."

As he was speaking, the cat sauntered closer to the winged being with great interest.

_'This... this is one of the winged ones!'_ she thought to herself.

'I am indeed, little one,' came the silent verification.

The cat tried to cover her startlement, with little success. _'You heard me?'_

'I did, and why not? My Master can hear every beat of every heart of every living thing on this Earth. Even that sparrow you dispatched two weeks past.'

_'...I was hungry...'_ the cat sulkily offered.

'And you had every right to feed yourself. That's the way my Master made the world to function, after all. Some things pass on that others might continue on.'

The old cat's tail bristled as she flicked her ears upright. _'I've... heard that before.'_ Her eyes grew very wide as memories blossomed. _'I was a kitten... a very little kitten. My mother went off to hunt... and she never returned. I cried out for her... for a full day, but she never returned. I was so cold, and hungry... and alone. I had been the only one in her litter that time._

 

_'Then a hand picked me up from where I huddled, and held me as I cried out even harder, though I had no sound left in my throat. A voice said gently 'Ah, little one. You are alone, now. Your mother has gone beyond you. But come, there is someone important you should meet.' And that voice took me to the stable, to another female cat, and spoke to her, saying her kitten had gone beyond her, but that another hurting heart had need of her now._

_'She sniffed me so like my mama, and she took me close, and warmed me… fed me… 'And the voice... your voice said, **'Some things pass on that others might continue on.'** '_

'That was indeed me. I was sent to your aid because you shared a very special birth time with a very important person, your Mary. There is a special place in my Master's heart for you because of that.'

_'You brought Mary to my stable, then? So we would meet?'_

'Close enough,' the angel smiled again. 'Though in honesty, your final breath was to be at the moment of her Son's first, but my Master would allow no death to happen at the moment of it's greatest light, so that did not come to pass. When you chose to nurture those human invaders of your home, my Master saw an opportunity to offer Mary at least a token of this mortal world... you... for as long as you chose to remain with her.

The old queen's ears twitched at the term 'human invaders'. _'Were you one of the ones above the stable when the young tom, Jesus was born?'_

'I was, I was part of the host at the beginning, and I was chosen to ring down the curtain at the end of this particular scene. The play goes on, and the plot thickens.'

The angel chuckled slightly at the cat's confusion.

'Forgive me, little one. I occasionally speak out of time. Which I now am, as well. I must be on my way.'

With that, the angel slid the great wheel of stone back against the tomb as easily as if it were a wooden veneer and rolled it back to its open position along its track. Then he was gone, without so much as a whisper of wings. The tabby was left to contemplate the time she spent with this heavenly messenger as human concerns concerned the humans.

Joseph rushed into the tomb and soon returned, carrying the linen shroud, now empty of its final burden, across his arms.

"He is gone Mary," he said quietly. "Even without the heavenly confirmation, I feel safe in saying that no mortal agency was involved here. The ties are still in place, and I am sure these are my knots. Any Romans bent on harrying us would have taken body and all."

"My Son lives. If you can find them, let the others know," Mary told the man as fresh tears flowed into her smile. "If you cannot find them, my Son will, have no fear."

Mary's prediction proved true, as was her expectation that he would visit her. Mary's cat was there, too, and greatly pleased that her adopted tom had persevered.

His glow now was brighter even than the angel who'd spoken with her. Still... most did not see it. The old queen felt sorry for those who could not. This gave her pause, because she realized there was a time when she would have discarded any human with just so much contempt.

This... was what the young tom Jesus had taught... the path He walked. Compassion above conquest.

Above all else... love.

Her purr may not have been loud enough to be heard across the Roman Empire, but it filled her self so fully, that she missed what her human family had to say to one another.

No matter.

**********

Mary took her Son's teachings on the road shortly thereafter, and the old queen cat went along. She stayed mostly out of sight, not wishing to distract from her human's words, but when the speaking was done, the old queen seemed always at hand (most often under said hand). The companionship was quiet, and fulfilling.

In the course of time, when Mary no longer felt up to the rigors of travel, she settled one more time. The old queen cat took up her mousing duties full time once again in order to watch over her human. She noticed when Mary slowly reduced her number of visitors until only those who had once known her Son were allowed to call.

When Mary asked one of these disciples to return the next day, the old cat knew. Mary was preparing for her passing.

The tabby watched over her that night, and would not leave her side come morning.

"You know, don't you?" Mary asked her. "I'm leaving today. I've taken my Son's word as far as this mortal body will allow, and now my only earthly concern is you. What am I to do with you?"

_'Nothing,_ ' the old queen thought placidly. _'I'm going with you.'_ She laid her head on Mary's hand and purred.

"Perhaps there is no need, is there?" Mary went on. "You've lived far longer that any normal cat could claim, eight, even nine lives worth. A small reminder of my Son's immortal promise to us all. We will see, then, won't we?"

_'Indeed, we will.'_

The cat closed her eyes contentedly beneath Mary's gentle hand as the extraordinary lady's aura took on the strength of the angels and filled the room.

And with that, the Queen of Heaven, and the Queen of Cats left behind their last mortal breaths in this world, and took their first breaths in eternity... together.

**********

And yet they are both with us to this day. Mary, still compassionate about her mortal human roots appears to us with healings and warnings about our human condition, with occasional appearances in such smaller venues as bowls of oatmeal and slices of toast. But I shall not berate my fellow man for such things. We've always looked for what solace we may in most any thing most any where. Who am I to suggest that such places are too small for finding greater comforts?

And Mary's cat, whose name history has chosen to forget, is with us as well, through the immortality we all may aspire to on this small earth... with children, and children's children.

Those offspring are more easily seen by those of us with mortal eyes. They each bear on their foreheads the letter "M" where Mary, the Virgin, once blessed their ancestor for services rendered on the night they first met. Those felines are a constant reminder of a simple truth often overlooked today.

Whether your cat is of Mary's cat or not, you love it. Whether it's swinging from the curtains, clawing the sofa, or sitting contentedly beneath your strong hand, purring... you love it... unconditionally.

The same way God loves you. Pedigree or not, whether you are swinging from the curtains, clawing the sofa, or sitting contentedly beneath His strong hand, purring... He loves you... unconditionally. So unconditionally that He opened for us a door to heaven, gave us words to live by in the Good Book, and an example to follow in the life of His Son.

All of which started over two thousand years ago on a cold night... in a manger... in a stable... in a small town called Bethlehem.

 

THE END

May you be twice the person your cat expects you to be, and half the person your dog already thinks you are.  
Jim Price

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first upload. Hopefully it won't be my last.


End file.
